All That Is Left
by thelovelygifs
Summary: It's a season 6 story about loss, with Amber as the main character.
1. Chapter 1

**All that is Left**

**Disclaimer: This is an independent fanfic based on the TV show the tribe. I do not own The Tribe or any of its characters, it is owned by Raymond Thompson the writer and Cloud 9 the producer of the show.**

**Chapter 1**

The boat had ended up in a storm a fortnight after they had left the city when Ram's AI Zoot had released the deadly Virus. When the boat had been caught up in the storm all had been split up. Amber holding on to Bray Jr., Slade, Lex and Trudy who were holding on to Brady had been washed up on the same shore. The others had been split up even more, Ebony had ended up with Ruby on some other shore and the younger kids, Salene and May ended up somewhere else.

Amber was the first one to wake up on the beach and she was still holding in to little Bray. She tried to feel his pulse but couldn't feel it. She was getting distressed, she screamed so loud that she woke up Slade and Trudy. Trudy looked around confused and remembered what had happened. She checked Brady's pulse and she had one, so Trudy relaxed and crawled over to Amber. Slade just looked around and moved over to Amber. He could see Lex lying in the sand passed out but didn't bother to try and wake him up.

"What's wrong Amber?" Trudy asked as she got over to her. She put down Brady on the sand and tried to put her arm around Amber but Amber pushed Trudy's arm off.

"He is dead. He doesn't have a pulse. I've lost him; I've lost all I had left of him as well." Amber stuttered between sobs. She had started to cry really much.

"Oh Amber." Trudy said and looked at the lifeless body of Bray Jr in Amber's arms.

Lex was starting to wake up at this point. He heard Amber cry and wondered why she was crying. He got up and moved over to them, well the crawled over to them since he couldn't get up from the soft sand.

"What's wrong?" Lex asked as he got there and noticed that Amber's son was not breathing and that Amber was holding on to him like she was never going to let him go. The three of them knew that they would have to get Amber to agree with them to bury her one and only child since he would start to smell and that meant the attractions of birds and other animals that ate corpse.

"Amber?"

"What is it Slade?" she asked and turned her head to face him.

"You know that we have to bury him so he doesn't attract animals."

"I know but not yet. Let me be with him alone for a while." Amber said and got up from the sand. She saw her bag a few feet away and grabbed it. She opened it and took out a set of dry and clean clothes for her son. She was determined not to bury him in dirty clothes. She knew that she wouldn't want to be buried in wet and dirty clothes. She put a pair of light green pants, a bit darker green shirt and a pair of his boots.

"There I'm ready to bury him now." Amber said and walked over to Trudy who had picked up Brady again. Brady was thankfully still asleep. It meant that she would be spared a bit of the pain to see her younger cousin dead even though she did not know what death meant. Brady would probably ask questions when she woke up and noticed that her cousin wasn't with them, but Amber knew what she would say to her.

Amber knew where she wanted to bury him. She had seen a beautiful spot with flowers and beautiful white rocks. The place was a few miles from the sea so that the tide wouldn't get to it. She had seen it from the beach since there were no bushes to hide it. She pointed it out to the rest and carried her son there with the rest walking behind her. When they arrived at the place she had set out for then the guys found some sticks to dig the hole with. When they had dug the hole, then Amber put her son Bray Junior to rest there. She gathered up some of the stones and placed them on the grave as a B so that she would know that it was there her son was. No one said anything since they thought Amber would but she was to sad to even try and say anything, she just stood there looking at the grave as it had been built by her. She didn't want to say farewell to her son but she had to. She knew that she would have to move on and live her life as if he had never existed; she knew it would be hard but she would have to do it for her friend's sake and for big Bray's sake if they ever found him.

When they had buried Bray Jr. then they gathered the stuff that had ended up on the shore with them. It was a chest with clothes and some food in it, they also had Trudy's backpack with food in. Lex and Slade let Trudy and Amber to be by Bray's grave while they gathered the stuff so they would be able to move away from the place, and to find a safe place to live in.

"Amber we have to go now. We have to find a safe place to stay in." Trudy said and looked at Amber whom was still crying.

"I know but not just yet. I don't want to leave him yet." Amber got out between her sobs. She was trying to stop crying but it was hard. He had been her life ever since he was born; she had loved her son more than her own life. She wouldn't do anything to hurt him, yet he was dead. Lex and Slade had finished packing their stuff in one bag and the chest. Lex and Slade were carrying the chest between them. It was almost full of food; there were also water and a couple of blankets.

"Amber, Trudy. We should get going now so that we have a chance to find shelter before night falls." Slade said as he and Lex got up to the girls.

"We know." Trudy answered as she put down Brady on the ground so that she could pull Amber up from the ground. When she had managed to get Amber up to her feet then she picked up a sleeping Brady. She put her left arm around Amber and held Brady with her right arm and hand.

"Let's go." Lex said and started to walk toward the sun that was setting, it was still quite high up on the sky but it was going down. They walked for an hour and during that hour Brady woke up and looked around.

"Where are we mummy?" Brady asked as she looked at Amber who was walking next to Trudy.

"We are at some island. We don't know which one yet sweetie."

"Okay, where's Bray?"

"He is with the angels up in the sky." Trudy said she didn't really know how to explain it to her four year old daughter.

"Like grandma and grandpa?"

"Yes exactly." Trudy answered and smiled warmly at her little girl who was growing up.

Half an hour later they reached a city. They had electricity and street lights you could also hear cars driving around. The four of them wondered if the adults still were alive there. Brady didn't know what the sound was so she started to cry of fear.

"It's okay Brady; it's nothing to be scared of." Trudy comforted her daughter who continued to cry anyways.

They entered the city and saw the street lights and cars driving around and people walking around. It was hard to tell their age since they were quite a long way from them. They were at least 5 miles from them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

They stopped up at the hill and looked out over the city. It was a small city with just a few houses; it was surrounded by hills and trees. It would take them a while to get down there but the sun wasn't setting until a few more hours. Brady was trying to get down from Trudy since she wanted to walk on her own but Trudy didn't want to risk it so she shifted her grip on Brady so it was more secure. She didn't want Brady to get down and loose herself among the bushes.

Lex had took a hold of Amber's arm since she was about to walk in to a poison ivy bush.

"Lex get your hand off me!"

"I'm sorry Amber but you were about to step in to a bush of poison ivy and since you don't have long pants on you would have go lots of rashes all over your legs." Lex answered as he let go of her arm.

"Oh thanks. I think." Amber said and turned over to Trudy who was just staring out at some trees.

"What's wrong Trudy?"

"Nothing." Trudy said as she looked over at Lex who was putting down the chest, with food in it, on the ground. He opened the chest and pulled out some bread and then closed it again. He broke the bread to pieces and handed it out.

"Thanks Lex." Trudy said as she got two bits. One for her and one for Brady. She gave one to Brady, but Brady just threw hers at Lex.

"Brady, don't throw the bread at Lex. Apologize now this instant young lady." Trudy said as she looked over at Lex who hadn't even noticed the soft bread hitting him. Well he had noticed it but decided to leave it be.

"NO!" Brady shouted and started to scratch Trudy on her arms just to get her to put her down.

"Brady stop it." Trudy said and held Brady in a tighter grip when she started to scratch at her arms.

"LET ME DOWN!" Brady shouted as she continued to scratch Trudy's arms and where ever she could reach.

"Stop it Brady." Trudy said but Brady just continued to scratch her mother.

"Give her to me." Amber said and took Brady from Trudy and held her.

"Stop scratching your mother. She is only trying to keep you safe. Just like I tried to keep you cousin safe but didn't manage to keep him safe."

"Oh." Brady said in a small voice and looked at her mother.

"Sojjy mommy." Brady said and looked at her mother with a sad puppy eye look.

"It's okay sweetie but now you know." Trudy said and took Brady back from Amber and Amber let her go since she didn't want to be reminded of what she had lost. Well she did get reminded of it all the time because Brady still was here and she was after all Bray Jr's cousin.

"Let's keep moving before it gets too dark." Lex said and picked up the chest with help from Slade.

"I agree." Slade and Amber said at the same time as they started to walk.

"Amber can you carry Brady for a while?"

"Sure." Amber answered and took Brady from Trudy and started to walk down the hill toward the city they had seen. They were walking down the hill when Trudy suddenly turned around.

"Who's there?"

"What's wrong Trudy?"

"Someone's there Amber." Trudy answered Amber.

"I don't see anyone. It's just your imagination Trudy." Lex answered as he looked over at where Trudy was looking.

"But there's someone there."

"No it isn't Trudy, come one let's get going again." Amber said and frowned as she thought Trudy was going a bit crazy.

"Fine." Trudy said and sighed as she continued to walk with the others.

They walked for an hour before they reached the outskirts of the city. When they got there the city looked deserted but when they looked again they saw kids around their own ages walking around, driving cars.

"Look they are driving cars." Lex said as he looked around at the part of the city they could see.

"We can see that Lex." Slade said and sighed.

"Who are you and why are you looking like that?" a girl asked them, she was dressed in a cloak that covered her face so that they could not see how she looked.

"I am Lex, that is Slade, Amber holding Brady and that's Trudy, Brady's mother. We are looking like this because it was all that we could find to use for clothes and the makeup is because we wanted to." Lex says and points at them in the order he says them and also points out why they look the way they do.

"Where do you come from?"

"A city where all the adults where killed." Amber answered as she handed Brady to Trudy.

"Where is the city located?" the girl asked and pulled down her cloak a bit so her face was shown.

"I can't tell for sure since we ended up in a storm, and the boat was destroyed." Amber said and looked at Slade and Lex who had put down the chest on the ground again.

"Oh, by the way there are no adults any where in the world, but here we where taught our parents jobs so we have been able to keep schools, hospitals etcetera open." The girl said as she looked around the four people standing there.

"Okay, we need a safe place to stay in. We have been wandering around for almost a day now." Trudy said as she held on to Brady who had fallen asleep again.

"Sure, you can stay at my place tonight and then we might be able to fix something up permanent for you. If you want to." The girl said.

"Will you say who you are?"

"I will in a while but not yet. Not out here. There are still dangerous people outside the city walls. Come and I shall tell you when we get to my place." The girl said and started to walk towards the city gates.

The four of them followed the girl. She was walking toward the biggest house in the whole town.

"This is where I live. My father was the president of this city so that's why I live here and came to greet you. You won't cause any trouble will you?"

"No we won't. Maybe Lex might because he is a heart breaker." Amber answered not looking at him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When they entered the house they were showed to a living room, it was big and airy, there was two sofas, a couple of armchairs and a few tables, the tapestry was light almost white but more to the yellow.

"So what is your name?" Lex asked straight out as he sat down in one of the sofas.

"My name is Alexandra, but most people call me Alex." Alex said as she smiled. "oh by the way, if you want to fit in here then it would do you all good to loose the weird make-up and the clothes." she added as she continued to smile.

"Okay, so where can we get clothes?" Trudy asked as she put down Brady on an armchair. The little girl was still asleep and now she had her thumb in her mouth.

"I'll get the clothes for you. All we have to do is to go upstairs. I have my own tailor." Alex said still smiling. "Well I have two, one male and one female." Alex added giggling a little.

"Okay then, shall we get the clothes fixed?" Lex asked looking at Alex and then over to Amber who had been quiet ever since they entered the city and the house.

"In a while, I would like to talk to Amber first, alone." Alex said and looked at Amber whom was just staring at Brady who was sound asleep.

"Amber." Alex said and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What? Oh yes." Amber said looking at Alex.

"Let's go to my office and talk alone."

"Oh sure." Amber answered still not taking her eyes of Brady. As Alex started to walk out of the room then Amber took her eyes of Brady and walked with her. When the two of them reached Alex's office, she told Amber to take a seat but Amber just stood at the window staring out at the city, she felt it was familiar but couldn't say why.

"Amber you have been very quiet, why is that?"

"Hmm, that's none of your concern." Amber snapped, she had no intentions of telling anyone that she had a son that had died during a storm.

At the same time Slade was sitting on one of the sofas just staring out in to the air, he was thinking of Ebony and if she was okay. He didn't really care about her; he was more thinking of what was happening around him, like when Amber lost her son. He wondered why she hadn't cried that much, she was mostly quiet and carrying around on Brady, since after they had buried Bray Jr.

"Earth to Slade, earth to Slade." Lex said as he poked Slade in the chest. "I asked you if you would be up to see if there are any women here."

"What the... Lex stop it. No I don't want to see if there are any women here and we should wait here until Amber and that Alex gets back down here." Slade answered and knocked Lex's hand away.

"Fine, you don't have to bite my head of." Lex snarled as he went over to an armchair and slumped down in the armchair. Slade rolled with his eyes and continued to look out of the window. He recognized the town from somewhere, he just couldn't tell why. He had probably been here before the virus.

"Amber why what is it that has made you like this? I knew you before the virus, don't you remember?"

"What are you on about Alex?" as Amber said that something clicked in her mind. She remembered something about something long ago. "Wait, I thought I recognized the town, I need to think for a while, before the virus. I think I lived her before the Virus, at least five years before the virus. I wonder how it slipped my mind. Well I've been through much since I moved away from here." Amber said as she looked out through the window, her parents had moved from this small town because her mother had got a new job at some hospital.

"Exactly, sure it's about eight or nine years since you moved but I still recognized you, you still have the same look on your face when you are sad." Alex said and looked at Amber.

"You remember when my grandma died, I guess."

"Yes I do, you look like you had swallowed a whole lemon."

"I know, I guess I still do."

"Yup and you don't cry where others can see it." Alex said and smiled a little, she remembered when she had first seen Amber, Alex had been out in the yard rummaging through a box with books in it, she had just moved in to the neighborhood and the first one she saw was Amber with her brown hair barley down to her shoulders. Amber had been standing in the doorway to her house on the other side of the road watching them move in.

"Yeah I know. I had almost forgotten about that, it's so long ago. So much has happened since you moved in here Alex, as you noticed I didn't recognize you." Amber said smiling as she figured that Alex was remembering when she had moved here.

"Yeah the virus for starters, but here we managed to keep going, our parents taught us their jobs and so on."

"Yeah while in the city where it all started there we had no chance of learning, so we have lived in anarchy, me and my tribe have tried to make our city better so we could live there but there was always a bad tribe there to tear it down. I also had a sin, but he died on the way here, in a storm. You have to swear not to tell anyone about me having a dead son, got it?" Amber said with a deep sigh and a bit of an angry voice.

"I swear not to tell anyone Amber." Alex said in a serious voice.

"Good, let's go down again. I think Lex needs to go out and walk his…." Amber trailed off and started to laugh with Alex.

After a while Slade remembered why he recognized the city, he had lived there for a year with his parents and younger brother. They had moved away from there a year before the virus hit and he had lived in the middle of nowhere. Slade stood there thinking about when he had lived there but didn't really remember anything about it.

"Let's go down to your friends now." Alex said as she smiled. She walked to the door and Amber followed. They walked downstairs where Brady had woken up and was running around the place and driving Lex out of his mind.

"BRADY!" Lex shouted as she ran past him screaming as loud as she could. Amber just laughed at the sight of Brady, when Brady saw Amber she ran straight to her and Amber picked her up.

"So you are the one who drives Lex nuts." Amber asked and smiled at Brady.

"Yea." Brady said nodding as she smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Thanks for coming back down, I don't get it Amber, I can't seem to get Brady to calm down anymore. She only stays calm if you're around." Trudy said and looked at her daughter in Amber's arms.

"That is odd, but I think this little missy can feel my emotions just like…." Amber trailed off and hugged Brady to stop her tears coming.

"It's okay." Brady whispered in Amber's ear, and that made Amber smile.

"You do know what to do, don't you sweetie." Amber said and smiled a warm and big smile to Brady. Brady giggled as Amber put her down on the floor.

"Promise to be nice to Lex now."

"No don't want to."

"Brady be nice, I don't think he likes it when you are running around like crazy." Amber said and smiled down to Brady and caught her and started to tickle her, that made her laugh like mad.

"Otay." Brady said after Amber had stopped tickle her.

"Now promise to behave?" Amber asked and looked down at Brady as she put her down on the floor. Brady just nodded and sat down on the floor and started to play with the edge of the rug.

"Amber how come Brady is acting like she is?" Trudy asked as she looked at Brady on the floor.

"Because she knows how I feel and knows how to cheer me up, don't you sweetie." Amber said and smiled down at Brady who wasn't even listening to them. She was caught up in playing with the rug.

"Are we going to get some new clothes soon?" Lex asked Alex, she was standing in the doorway just watching them.

"Yes, you just follow me and I'll fix it." Alex said and smiled as she turned around and started to walk out through the door.

Trudy picked up Brady and followed Alex with Amber in front of her and Lex and Slade behind her.

Alex showed them up to her tailors, she had two Anne and Chris. Chris showed Lex and Slade where they should stand while he took the measures of the other. He started with Lex. Lex got a pair of bone white trousers and a deep maroon colour. He was showed in to a room where he could change in to his new clothes. He decided that he should pull his hair up in to a ponytail and he cleaned of the make-up he was wearing. While Lex changed in to his clothes then Slade got his clothes which where a pair of jeans and a blue shirt.

Amber, Trudy and Brady where with Anne and got their new clothes. Amber was first up. She got a pair of jeans and a top that matched. She also found a couple of necklaces she decided that she wanted to wear. She went over to where she could change and started with letting her hair down. She also removed all the make-up she had and changed to some that wasn't so distinctive. Trudy got a chequeredskirt that went almost down to her knees and a white top and a black pull over shirt to it. Brady on the other hand refused to change clothes. She didn't want to leave her lovely pink clothes so Trudy had to struggle with her but she knew that Brady was stubborn so she gave up after a while of trying to get her to change clothes. But she did take of Brady's make-up.

"No…." Brady said and tried to get away from Trudy.

"No you are not getting away this time. Stay quiet." Trudy said as she but Brady in a playpen that had been placed in the room.

Amber had walked down to the living room again and sat in one of the chairs. She was watching the outside and the people that were walking past. She recognized most of them but there were some she didn't recognize. She figured it was people who had moved there after she had moved away from there.

Slade entered the living room a few seconds after Amber and he stood in the doorway just watching her. He found her fascinating. He had known her for what? Just a few months and she had become someone he could rely on, just like he had relied on his family before the virus.

Amber didn't notice at first that Slade had come in to the room but when she did, she just smiled at him. She was happy not to be alone in all that had happen. Slade smiled back at Amber and walked over to her.

"You know that you aren't alone in all this don't you?"

"Yes, I know Slade and I am happy to have all four of you even though I prefer Brady. She is such a sweet heart."

"Yeah well she is to you; she is driving the rest of us mad."

"Oh? How come?"

"I don't know, but she is a bit annoying sometimes. But I think she knows that you need to smile. I think she also knows what makes you happy." Slade said as he sat down in the chair opposite to the one Amber was in.

"Yeah well she has grown up around us. She has had me, Salene, Lex, Trudy and Jack around her since she was born. That is all that is left of the original Mallrats, and now I don't even know where Salene and Jack are. It's sad. I hope they will be happy where ever they are." Amber said and sighed. She had lost so much since the day the hotel exploded.

"They will be both happy and fine Amber. Don't worry; they know how to take care of themselves thanks to you." Slade said and put his hand on Amber's. She pulled her hand away. She wasn't sure if she wanted him to touch her; she had only let Brady touch her so far. If you don't count when Lex grabbed her arm or when Trudy hugged. She did shake them both of and now she shook Slade off. She stood up and walked away from the living room. She started to pace around in the house and look at all the paintings that she remembered when she had been in there as a child.

Lex had gone down from the tailor as well and he was sitting outside on the porch staring at the people passing by. He wondered where they had ended up. He did not know the town and he had traveled some in his life before the virus, but that was to different of boot camps.

Amber saw him sit out there and thought of going out to him, but she was torn between being alone and being with someone. She liked to be alone but she also liked to have someone around her. She chose to stay inside. She walked in to another room that she knew had a painting of her and Alex on it. On the picture she was looking mad or sad; it was hard to tell with Amber when she was little. She could look mad even though she was sad. They had been outside and Alex had been smiling because she was trying to get Amber to listen to her, but she had been stubborn and crossed her arms and Alex reached out her hand to grab Amber's to force her not to cross her arms. Alex parents had taken a photo of it and then had it painted. She stood there and looked at it. She missed the times before the Virus. She missed a lot. She missed Bray, little Bray and her parents and others she had known, like Dal who had died when they had tried to kidnap Brady and Trudy from the Chosen, when she had been Eagle. She missed Pride as well and she realized that she wouldn't get to visit their graves again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It saddened here that she wouldn't get to see their graves again but she knew she would still remember her friends. She sighed and slumped down against the wall and sat leaned against the wall on the floor. She sat there for a while as she listened to the sounds of a door opening. She looked over at the door in to the room she was in and saw Lex walking in through it.

"Is that you?" he asked and pointed at the painting behind the desk in the room.

"So what if it is?"

"Well it looks a lot like you that's all." Lex said and turned around leave.

"Lex wait. I'm sorry; yes it's me and Alex. I lived here before the Virus." Amber answered Lex and it made him stop and turn around to face her. Amber gets up from the floor and walks over to him.

"I'm sorry Lex but I don't like to talk about the past if you don't remember." she then said and smiled.

"I remember. You seldom talked about anything that had happened before. You always talked about the future."

"Yes exactly and I still do no like to talk about the past. It is too much sorrow for me to handle. Well I can handle it but I do not want to." Amber said as she stopped smiling, she walked over to the desk and stood there watching the painting. She didn't care if Lex left or not. She knew that he would get bored and leave sooner or later, and then she would be alone again just like she wanted to.

Lex didn't move. He just stood there and looked at the back of Amber. He didn't know what he should do. He wanted to go over to her and talk to her, but he knew that she was probably in one of her bad moods when she would bite someone's head off if they came near. He decided to leave, he went in to the living room and notice Slade sitting in the sofa asleep. He also saw that Trudy was sitting with Brady in her lap talking to Alex. Even though Lex was present there, he didn't listen to anything that was said. He was just sitting on the floor thinking of Amber. He couldn't stop himself from thinking of her. There had been chemistry between the two of them since the beginning and Lex felt it. But he didn't know what to do. He didn't have anyone to talk to, if Ryan still would be there then he could have talked to him about it but now Ryan was gone like so many else. When he thought of Ryan then it made him think of Zandra, Tai San and Siva, all of the girls he had lost. He sighed and closed his eyes. After a while he fell asleep. He was dreaming of Zandra for a while and how beautiful she always had looked. Then he went on with dreaming about Tai San and about what a fruitcake she could be sometimes. He then dreamed of the day Siva died and he woke up just before the sapper was fired. He looked around and remembered where he was and sighed deeply.

Slade on the other hand was dreaming of one thing and only one thing and that was Ebony. He was still in love with her even though they were no where near each other.

Amber was still in the study or what to call it. She was looking at the painting. She wanted to be alone this time. She was remembering times that were happier then these. She had lost her own child just a few days ago and she had lost her child's father before that. She had lost much during the years. It was hard for her to keep the tears back so she started to cry. She sat down on the floor crying much but she cried quiet. She didn't want anyone else to know that she cried. She hated the fact that she was vulnerable. She sat there on the floor crying, thinking of her son mostly but also about Bray the one she had loved more then her own life. She sat there for quiet a while before getting to her senses and go to the others. She knew that she needed to stay with them but she wasn't sure she wanted to. She was confused about her own feelings. She knew that she loved Bray but she thought he was dead so she had to let go of him, but she had a hard time to let him go since she had been the love of her life.

She decided to go to the others after an hour of thinking about life. When she got in to the room both Lex and Slade was asleep, Slade in the sofa and Lex on the floor. Alex was playing with Brady and Trudy was just watching them. She had probably taken a brake from playing with them. Amber entered quietly and sat down in the chair that was facing the window. She sat there staring out through the window thinking of where they should live. They couldn't stay in Alex's house for the rest of their lives. They, well she needed a place of her own.

"Alex?"

"Yes Amber."

"Where can I find a place to live?"

"It depends on how you want to live and how many to live in the same house and how much money you have and at the moment you guys have no money so you can't buy a house or even rent an apartment. Sorry, you need to get jobs first." Alex answered as she continued to play with Brady.

"Where can we find jobs then?"

"At the market. I'll take you there tomorrow. There won't be any jobs up today. It's too late in the evening for it." Alex said and smiled as she played along with Brady whom was tugging at Alex's shirt.

"Okay then." Amber said as she sat there looking out at the people walking around.

"I'll be back later." Amber said and got up from the chair. She went out through the door and out on to the streets of the city. She was restless and when she was restless then it helped to be out walking. It had helped her since she was just a little kid. Amber was walking along a street not thinking of where she was walking she was just walking and playing with the ring she had on her finger. The ring she had given Bray, then Pride and then back to Bray again and now it was on her finger once again. It saddened her that she didn't have anyone to give it to, no one to get it if she died. She sighed as she kept on walking. A few moments later she walked straight in to someone.

"I'm really sorry." Amber said as she landed on the person. She got of him and helped him up.

"I'm truly really sorry. I should have watched where I was going." Amber said as she and the guy was standing up again.

"It's okay; I should have paid attention to where I walked as well. So don't worry." a brown haired guy said and smiled brightly at Amber.

"I recognize you." Amber blurted out. She hadn't meant to say it out loud since she couldn't say where from she recognized him.

Lex woke up and fell asleep several of times before he woke up and stayed awake. He stayed on the floor where he was sitting. He wondered where Amber was as he looked around the room. He got up and walked in to the room where she had been before, but she wasn't there. He shrugged his shoulders and went outside and sat down on the porch. He sat on the porch for an hour before Slade came and joined him.

"What do you want Slade?"

"Can't I just want to talk with you, without you suspecting me?"

"No. You don't like me, you made that clear in liberty so be so kind and get lost." Lex answered as he kept staring out at the street.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"How come you recognize me?" the brown haired guy asked.

"I said that out loud then. I don't know. It's just that you feel very familiar, like I know you." Amber answered as she frowned.

"Well you should recognize me you little rat."

"Oy, what did you call me? Only.... Cat would know that." Amber said and looked at the guy.

"Rat it's me Cat." the guy answered and smiled big.

"Cat?! I haven't seen you since, well since before the Virus."

"That's right Rat. I moved and then I went here the summer after and then you had already moved. So where did you go?"

"I went to a city not too far from here I think. I'm not sure since it's hard to tell. We ended up in a storm and there for me and some of us ended up here Cat. We can talk about it some other time."

"So you are still reluctant to speak about the past?"

"Yes, is that so hard to understand? I don't dwell in the past; I look to the future Sam you know that, you of all would know that. We grew up together; we were like the twins, even though we aren't related."

"I know Rat. So where do you live now?"

"No where. Well we live at Alex's at the moment."

"So the Rat's best friend still lives here. I remember when she moved in, you started to hang out with her more then with me, but then one day when you two got in to a huge fight and you started to hang out with me again and then I moved and the year later you moved. How odd and now all three of us are here. So who will you stay at Rat? My place or hers?" the guy called Sam asked Amber as he frowned. He really didn't like Alex. He hated her for taking his best friend away from him.

"At hers, I need to think about the others."

"What others?"

"My friends Slade, Lex, Trudy and Brady."

"Ohh some fancy kids you became friends with after you moved?"

"No after the virus hit. I need to get back now." Amber said in a sour voice and left Sam to himself and hurried back to Alex's house. When she got there she saw Lex on the porch. She walked up to him and sat down next to him.

"Hey."

"Hey Amber."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Lex said and sighed. Slade had walked in several of hours before Amber showed up.

"Spit it out Lex, you know that I will not stop bugging you until you do."

"I know but I swear there isn't anything to tell."

"Oh really, so you aren't thinking of the girls that aren't here because of Ram, Mega and the explosion?"

"Fine, you know what I am thinking of."

"Lex there is no need for you to get mad at me, I just want to help."

"I know Amber but I'm fine on my own."

"So you don't long for someone to share a bed with?" she said and finished _"I know I do" _in her thoughts.

"Of course I do, but it's not like anyone here would like to do that." Lex answered with a really mad tone of his voice.

"Sorry, sore point, I'll go inside." Amber said and walked inside of the house again. She went in to the living room.

"Alex could I take the room I used to have when I lived here and visited you?"

"Yes go ahead and take it." Alex answered.

Amber disappeared up the stairs and in to a room on the second floor. It was decorated with a pair of dark green curtains and beige walls. It had a TV that wasn't working and a laptop that you could use but not for much. Also a bookcase with over 100 books in it.

Amber sat down on the bed and looked at the books. It was the same ones as the ones she had read when she was little.

Lex sighed and continued to sit there on the porch sulking. He had learned from Bray how to sulk, well most of it anyways. He had no intentions of going inside for a while. He wanted to be left lone and if he went inside then he wouldn't be left alone.

Brady was sitting on the floor playing with Slade's pants. Slade didn't notice it since he was still asleep but then Brady pinched him in his leg and he jumped up screaming. Brady was ran over to Trudy and hid behind her giggling. She loved to play pranks on Slade and Lex.

"Trudy make sure that she don't come near me again. I won't be held responsible for what happens if she does." Slade said and rubbed his leg where Brady had pinched him.

"Sorry Slade, but I don't know why she is acting like this." Trudy said and sighed. She lifted Brady up and smiled at her.

"Brady, it's not nice to pinch someone so do not pinch Slade again. Okay?"

"Yes mommy." Brady said and yawned.

Lex was getting bored out on the porch and looked at the door; he got up and went through it. He wondered if Amber was around. He wanted to talk to her, to apologize. He walked up the stairs and looked around. He saw doors and even more doors, he started to open them one by one, and after the seventh door he found Amber.

"Amber can I come in?" he asked and looked at her.

"What do you want?"

Lex didn't answer straight away; he just went in to the room and slumped down on the bed next to Amber.

"I know that you have lost much in your life, and I was thinking, so have I and I wanted to know if you wanted to talk about it? It helped me to talk about Zan's death." Lex said and looked at Amber who looked like she was about to cry, she was biting her lower lip to stop the tears from coming.

"Sure we can talk." Amber said as she looked in to Lex's eyes. She could see that he was hurting just as much as she was.

"You miss them don't you?"

"Yeah, I miss all three, but I miss Zan the most." Lex said and then sighed.

"Yeah, you knew her from before the virus didn't you?"

"Yes, we knew each other, we loved each other, well she loved me and I wanted to have sex." Lex said and smiled as he said it.

"Lex, you did love her later on didn't you?"

"Yes I fell for her after a few weeks in the mall." Lex said as he smiled warmly and truly happy about remembering Zandra.

"Oh Lex, what are we to do with you? You need to get some frustration out don't you?" Amber said and started to laugh as Lex just looked at her, he was in shock over what Amber had said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"I don't know. What do you suggest?"

"I don't know, I think we can find something to do that we both like." Amber said smiling brightly.

"Like what?" Lex asked grinning.

"Let's see, you like to be with girls for one reason and only one. While I like to be with guys for more reasons like talk and other things." Amber said nudging Lex on the shoulder, he just laughed at it. "By the way Lex I think that you should leave and then come back in a while." Amber said and pushed Lex off her bed. He landed on his butt laughing. He got up and Amber pushed him out of the room. Lex pouted with his lips because he didn't want to get thrown out of Amber's room but still she threw him out.

"Amber please let me stay."

"No, come back later I said so do as I say for once." Amber said as she closed the door in front of Lex. Lex sighed and walked away from her room with his head down since he was disappointed. He wanted to have a bit of fun and Amber just pushed him out of her room.

_"He is so gullible."_ Amber thought as she smiled. _"I never thought he would actually believe me. He is such a fool." _Amber thought and giggled a bit.

Lex had almost reached the room that he had chosen to use while they lived in Alex's house. Lex had chosen a room which had just a double bed and a closet in it. The walls were painted in a light beige color and the floor had a huge rug that was a soft blue.

"Alex I think I need to get a room so I can put Brady to sleep." Trudy said and looked over at Alex who was half asleep.

"Sure you can take the room next to Amber's." she answered as she got up and started to walk to the room that Trudy could use. The room that Trudy got had one single bed and one smaller children bed. There was also a bookshelf with children's books in it. Trudy put Brady down in the bed and grabbed a book and started to read out loud. It made Brady fall asleep in a matter of a few minutes.

Alex walked up to her room and went to sleep in a matter of seconds when she had laid down in her bed, since she was tired.

Slade was asleep in the sofa down in the living room. He hadn't intended to fall asleep there but he had since he hadn't slept since they woke up on the beach. Slade was sleeping with his mouth open and he was snoring.

Lex sat down on the bed as he looked out through the window and that made him miss the bed. He sat down on the floor with a loud thump. He swore as he stood on his knees and rubbed his sore butt. He got up on to his feet and walked over to the bed. This time he made sure that the bed was next to him before he sat down. He was thinking of what Amber had said before he had gone in to the room. _"I wonder if she was telling the truth or if she was stringing me along and fooling me?" _Lex thought as he lay down on the bed with his head on the pillow and the shoes on the floor.

Amber walked over to the window and sat down in the windowsill looking out at the sunset. She loved the sunset since the sky was turning red around the sun and purple and a really dark blue at the top. Amber looked to see if she could see any stars but the sun was still too high for the stars to be up. She sighed as she looked out through the window, she was thinking of Bray and little Bray, the tears started to form in her eyes. She blinked to get the tears away but it didn't work so she let the tears fall. She walked over to the bed and lay down with her face down in to the pillow. She let the tears stream down in to the pillow. What Amber didn't notice was that she fell asleep while she was crying.

It took Lex about ten minutes before he actually fell asleep, he was thinking of Amber while he laid there in the bed and it made him fall asleep. Well he had also fallen asleep because just like Slade he hadn't had any sleep since they landed on the beach. Amber and Trudy hadn't had any sleep either but Brady had slept and been awake and then slept some more, she was the only one that didn't really care about what was going on around her when she was awake.

Amber was dreaming about her past.

* * *

_"I'm afraid of losing you." Bray said as they were lying in the bed._

_"Well this time it's for keeps." Amber answered and gave Bray the ring she had on her finger._

* * *

_"Amber are you okay?"_

_"Just a bad dream."_

_"About the Guardian?"_

_"Yes."_

* * *

Amber woke up and looked around. She wondered where the crib was but then remembered that Bray were dead. She just sighed as she looked out the window. The sun was rising outside the window. She smiled and walked over to the window and watched the sunrise, she couldn't go back to sleep so therefore she stood by the window. After a while she grabbed her clothes and walked down to the living room.

Slade woke up with the sun in his eyes. He rubbed them so he would get used to the bright light faster, it didn't really work for him.

"Hey Amber." Slade said when he saw her in the doorway.

"Oh, sorry Slade. I didn't mean to disturb you."

"It's fine. I just woke up. It seems like I fell asleep down here." Slade answered smiling.

"Okay. Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"Yes I actually did." Slade said and smiled. He was thinking of how beautiful Amber looked even if her hair was all ruffled up.

"That's nice. I must look really hideous considering I haven't brushed my hair yet." Amber said laughing a little.

"No you look wonderful Amber." Slade answered smiling big to her.

"I do?" Amber asked in s bewildered way and lifted her eyebrows.

"Yes. You always look beautiful."

Amber was still having a hard time believing Slade. She just shrugged her shoulders and slumped down in the sofa watching the sunrise.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Amber didn't mind Slade telling her that she looked beautiful but she had a hard time believing him when she knew that he loved Ebony, well she didn't know if he still loved her but he had once.

Trudy had fallen asleep next to Brady in her bed, they were both sleeping. Well Brady wasn't really sleeping; she was watching Trudy sleep since she didn't want to wake her mum up.

"Amber are you going to respond to what I just said?"

"What? Oh sorry Slade but I don't know. I need to be alone." Amber said and walked to the door. She put on her shoes and walked out of the house. It was still early in the morning but she didn't mind. She used to love early morning walks when she was little. While she was out walking she walked down to the cliffs where she used to hang when she lived there. She sat down on the cliff with her feet dangling down from the edge of the cliff. She was remembering old times.

* * *

_"It's alright we are not going to hurt you. What's your name? I'm Amber and this is Dal. We're friends, do you have anyone? Any family, brothers and sisters?" Amber said looking at the young brown haired girl. The girl looked at Dal and Amber._

_"She doesn't understand. Let's just go." Dal answered looking at Amber._

_"She needs help."_

_"We all need help, that's the way things are. I'm sorry Amber, but we decided that we were going to leave the city before night fall, nothing was going to change that, you said it. How are we going to do that with this thing tagging along?" Dal asked and looked over at the girl._

* * *

_"You didn't say goodbye."_

_"I'm sorry Amber, I hate goodbyes." Ebony answered and tried to leave but Amber grabbed her and made her stay._

_"Oh no you don't. You can't walk away from this."_

_"Oh yeah. Who's going to stop me? You?" Ebony says with a small smirk._

_"No not Amber, I don't have the stomach for a fight, but Eagle does. Wanna see her claws?"_

_"What do you want?"_

_"I wanna know why you ruined my life." Amber asked Ebony._

_"All is fair in love and war." Ebony answered with a smile across her face._

* * *

_"Dal please be careful." Amber said before he ran off to help them scout the area._

* * *

_"Hi Trudy."_

_"Amber!? But you're dead." Trudy said shocked._

_"Yeah it's nice to see you too." Amber answered with a smile. Then Dal came running at a balcony shouting: "Bray, Amber run. It's an ambush."_

_"Run, run." Bray said and they all take off._

_ Dal climbs over a railing and falls to his death. He climbed over the railing and fell because he was trying to get away from the Chosen guards._

* * *

_Amber hears Dal moaning and runs over to him after she shouts, "Dal!" She took him up in her lap. "Oh god."_

_"Amber did they get away?" Dal asked with a weak voice._

_"Yeah, don't try to talk, I'll get the others and we will get you fixed up."_

_"The plants,"_

_"What, oh god this is all my fault."_

_"Listen, look after the plants for me."_

_"Y, you can do it yourself."_

_"Remember, little acorns."_

_"No, Dal." Amber says and starts to break out in tears._

* * *

"Oh Dal, I wished we hadn't stayed in the city. Then you still would have been here and I wouldn't have trouble with choosing who I want. I wish you were here so I could talk to you about my trouble." Amber said to herself sighing as she looked out at the water beneath the cliffs. Amber was battling in her mind over and over again about who to choose. She had known and seen Lex since the day she rescued Cloe who led her and Dal to Salene, Paul and Patsy and of course Bob the dog. While she had only known Slade for a few months. She felt that she had much chemistry with the two but she didn't know if Lex could be trusted with his track record of cheating his girlfriends and then there is Slade who she doesn't know at all.

_"Should I choose Lex or Slade? I'm not sure if Lex can be trusted with his track record. Sleeping with Tai San when he was with Zandra and then he was with Siva but cheated her with Kandy. Then if I chose Slade, I don't even know how he is. He played Ruby against Ebony and made them enemies when they could have been friends.__ Ohhhh this is so hard. I really wish I had someone to talk to."_ Amber thought as she sat there looking down in to the ocean.

Slade was still lying in the sofa just looking out through the window at this point. He fell asleep after a while again.

Lex was half awake up in his room. He rolled off the bed as he did sometimes and of course he woke up when he landed on the floor. When he got up from the floor he rubbed his bottom since it was hurting once again. Lex rolled his eyes and walked downstairs. "I'm starving." Lex said out loud as he walked down. He looked for the kitchen but couldn't find it. He could hear and feel his stomach rumbling. Lex found the kitchen after about half an hour. He sighed as he walked in to the kitchen. He was hungry but he still had Amber in his thoughts. So while he made his breakfast, that he got one of the chefs to do for him, he thought of Amber. He wondered if she still was up in her room. When he had eaten, he headed up to Amber's room and knocked on the door. To his disappointment she wasn't there. He decided to go out and look for her, so he could talk to her. He walked out of the house but before he left he grabbed his jacket so he wouldn't be cold.

Amber heard that someone was coming through the bushes so she turned around to see who it was and sighed with relief when it was only Lex who was crawling out from beneath the bushes.

"There you are. I've been looking for you for two hours now."

"Why? I didn't think I would be missed." Amber said smiling a bit as she watched Lex sit down next to her.

"Well I wanted to talk to you about what happened last night."

"What about it?"

"Where you for real? Did you mean it Amber?"

"I... I.... I don't know Lex. I'm still hurting over my son and Bray. Remember." Amber said as she just turned her head to the ocean as she spoke.

"I remember Amber, I do. But remember I've also lost people I love. I've lost four. My first wife Zandra and our child since she was pregnant when she died, then I lost Tai San and after that I watched Siva jump in front of Ebony and she died in my arms. Don't you think I know how it feels to lose someone you love?"

"Of course I know that you know how it feels. But what you don't know is how it feels to lose a child that you have carried around for nine months and then given birth to just to love that child even more!!" Amber shouted at Lex as the tears started to stream from her eyes. Lex got up and pulled Amber up from the ground and pulled into a hug.

"It's okay Amber, you have me and the rest of us."

"That's..... That's the..... trouble..... Lex.... I don't.... I don't..... have..... the..... the..... rest of...... of...... us. I only....... I only...... have..... T., B., S. and.... and you. What..... What about..... S.s., J.j., E.e. and th...those others. W. we.... e...... see.....see.... t. again.... L.l.?" Amber managed to say between her sobs but it took a while.

"I don't know Amber but you have a few of us and we are here for you." Lex said as he held onto Amber even though she was trying to break free. She gave up after a while and just stood there in Lex's arms crying.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The two of them stood there for at least twenty minutes before Amber even looked at Lex instead of crying in to his shoulder.

"Are you okay now?"

"No not really." Amber said bluntly. She had stopped crying at the moment she was just sniffling. "Have you got over Zandra, Tai San or Siva's deaths?" Amber added after a few seconds.

"No not really. But it gets easier when more time passes. It becomes easier every day for me. Come, let's head back." Lex said and took Amber's hand. She just looked at Lex. She had chosen who to be with now. She smiled at him and walked up to him and planted a nice warm and a bit of wet, because of her tears, kiss on his lips.

"Lex I like you, I like you really much. I know you have some feelings for me as well. I've seen how you are looking at me from time to time."

"Well you are right. I like you a lot." Lex answered and kissed her back. They stood kissing with their arms around each other for about ten minutes before they split so they would be able to crawl in under the bushes again.

"Are you coming or what?" Amber asked as she crawled under the bushes.

"I'm on my way." Lex answered and crawled after Amber. It took them about half an hour to get back to the house since they were dragging their feet after themselves.

"Lex follow me and I'll show you where I used to live as a child. I would think that the house is inhabited." Amber said and grabbed Lex's hand and ran off. Lex had no other choice then to run after her.

"Here we are." Amber said as she pointed at the house. It only took ten minutes to get there from the major's house, well Alex's house in this case.

"It's a big house."

"I know that. I wonder if anyone lives here. It doesn't look like it. We need to ask Alex." Amber said and pulled Lex back to the house they were staying at, at the moment.

"If we chose to live in my old house then we all can stay there. You, me, Trudy, Brady and Slade."

"Is the house that big?"

"Yes, there are five bedrooms, two living rooms, and a kitchen with a dining room next to it and there are two studies. One is an office and the other one is a library." Amber said smiling as they walked into the house. They took of their shoes and walked in to the living room. Amber looked at Lex as he sat down on the sofa. Amber just stood in the doorway. She walked up to Alex room and knocked on the door. She figured that Alex was still asleep but she was wrong because Alex opened the door when Amber had knocked on it.

"Hey Amber."

"Hey Alex. I have a question for you."

"What kind?"

"Well, you know the house I lived in before the virus?"

"Yeah what about it?"

"Are there anyone who lives there?"

"No, not at the moment. Why?"

"Well it would be fun to live in that house. It's big enough for us."

"Oh yeah, that's true. Sure you can live there." Alex answered smiling. "We just have to fix with some papers."

"Okay then let's do it." Amber said smiling and Alex went down to the living room while Amber went and got Trudy.

"Trudy are you awake?" Amber said as she opened the door and looked in. She could see that Brady was awake because she was poking her head up from behind of Trudy.

"Hi Aunty Amber." Brady said and waved as she climbed over her mother.

"Huh, what?" Trudy was mumbling as she felt Brady climbing over her.

"Good morning Trudy." Amber said as she picked up Brady from the bed that was rather close to the door.

"Oh, it's morning?"

"Yes. Come on, I've arranged for us to have our own house. Well my old house from when I lived here." Amber said smiling as Trudy got up.

"Well, that's awesome." Trudy answered as she walked over to Amber and Brady. The three of them walked down to the living room to where the others were.

"There. I've fixed so that we don't have to live with Alex anymore. We have a house of our own." Amber said as she sat down on the sofa, she put Brady down next to her.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Well I used to live in the house when I was little and it was apparently still abandoned." Amber said smiling. She looked at Brady who was playing with Amber's shirt.

"So we have our own house now. Nice, then we just have to get jobs so we can pay for the gas and the other stuff like food and clothes." Trudy said smiling; she couldn't wait to get something to do. She had to figure out what she was good at first. She knew that she could make pizzas but that was about it. She knew that she was good with kids as well. She was thinking of becoming a teacher or a chef. She couldn't decide but it was a while left until they would need to work.

Lex was sitting half asleep on the sofa just staring out into space, he knew that he wouldn't be able to work since he couldn't read or write. He still hadn't told anyone. The only ones who knew were either dead or missing. He knew that he would have to learn to read, he thought that he should talk to Amber about it. He wanted to be honest with her since she wasn't the type of girl who chose a guy like him. She had always gone for the heroic type like Bray and Jay. He was happy that she had chosen her instead of anyone else. He had fallen for her big time.

"Amber?"

"What is it Lex?"

"I want to talk to you in private."

"Why?"

"I want to tell you something."

"Something that you can't tell when the others are around?" Amber asked and looked at Lex.

"Well, sure but you might be embarrassed. I love you Amber."

"What?" Trudy said as she heard what Lex said. She just sat there with her mouth open looking from Lex to Amber and then back again.

"Do you really mean it?" Amber said as she looked over at him.

"I don't say a thing like that if I don't mean it." Lex said as he walked over to Amber and sat down next to her. He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek and then moved to her mouth and kissed her long on the mouth. She didn't do anything except for kissing him back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Wait, aren't you going to say something back?"

"Yes, I love you too." Amber said and put her arm around Lex's shoulder as he put his arm around her waist.

"Wait a second, are you two together?"

"It seems like it Trude." Lex answered smiling.

_The next day_

Amber was sitting on the porch just looking at Slade and Lex walking toward their new house. Trudy was sitting next to her. Brady was playing in the yard which had a fence that was high enough to keep Brady in the yard.

"Lex can you two hurry up?"

"What? We are talking about private business." Lex answered as he and Slade continued to talk.

"Like what?" Amber asked and walked over to them. Slade and Lex went quiet when they saw her come closer.

"Nothing that you need know." Lex answered and smiled at Amber.

"What? Argh. Fine, I'll.... Hmph." Amber answered. She didn't really know what to answer to Lex's answer. She went back to the porch and sat down next to Trudy.

"Let's get the house cleaned up while the boys plan whatever they are planning." Amber said and walked over to Brady and picked her up. "Come on hunnie, we are going to clean up the house so we can live in it." Amber said as she picked up Brady. She and Trudy went into the house and started to clean in the kitchen.

Slade was standing with his mouth ajar because of four words Lex said.

"Are you okay Slade?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I just can't believe that you really are going to go through with it."

"Well I love her so what else is there to do?" Lex asked as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Good point. But where will you get the money for the ring?"

"I don't know. I'll have to get a job. But I will get her a ring that she deserves." Lex answered smiling big. He was going to marry Amber. He just needed to get a ring and then he could ask her. He smiled big as he walked into the house. He embraced Amber in a hug from behind as he kissed her neck. Amber spun around and smiled as she kissed him on the mouth.

"Hi gorgeous." Lex said as he embraced her.

"Well let me go and help us clean this mess up. Both of you." Amber said as she broke free from Lex. She looked over at Slade who was hiding the fact that he was hurting inside. He didn't want to show that he wanted her in the same way as she and Lex had each other.

"Fine." Slade answered but Lex just looked at her as if she was crazy.

"That's women's' work." Lex answered but it was quiet predictable for Amber and Trudy and the two burst out in laughter.

"What?" Lex asked as he looked surprised.

"As you don't know. Remember when you were our leader in the beginning? Well if you don't you decided that we, the girls, were supposed to do all the cleaning and you would do nothing of it. But this time Lex, if you want to stay then you have to clean and just because of that you will be the one cleaning the toilets." Amber said as she continued to laugh with Trudy. Lex still looked like a question mark.

"Okay so it seems like he has suppressed that memory."

"Most definitely, since it was one of the most embarrassing moments in his life." Amber said as she grabbed a rag and threw it at Lex.

"Oi, what did you do that for?"

"Well take it and start clean the toilet, or I'll chase you with a wet rag. Be glad that it was dry." Amber answered as she walked past Lex. "I'm going to find my old room." Amber said as she walked up the stairs. When she reached her old room she saw a mark on the door. She had seen it once before, it was when she had been in the library as a child. The symbol was two Ms intervened with each other. It went an arrow straight through it. She didn't remember what she had read or how the book she read it in looked like but she knew that it was in the library, the main library in the center of the city.

"Guys. I found something that is a bad omen. I've read about it but can't remember exactly what but it was bad." Amber said as she came in to the kitchen where Slade, Trudy and Brady where.

"I think it was an old tribe that used to live in this area that used the symbol that is drawn upstairs on the doorframe to my room." Amber said as she looked toward the toilet and heard Lex grunt.

"Lex get out here." she shouted and slumped down on the chair.

"What?"

"Well you and I are going to the library." Amber said as she grabbed his arm. She looked at him and he pulled off his gloves and walked out the door with Amber.

"What are we going to do at the library?"

"Search for the symbol. I'll draw it up for you." Amber said as she dragged Lex with her to the library.

"Oh. But then there's something I have to tell you."

"What?"

"Well, I've been lying about being able to read. I can't." Lex said and looked really ashamed.

"Oh, well I can teach you how to read, so don't be embarrassed." Amber said and pulled Lex into a hug and then kissed him on the cheek.

"Now come on, we have to hurry."

"Why?"

"Because if the symbol means a bad thing then we have to save ourselves. I think they are an old warrior tribe." Amber said and started to run toward the center of the city.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 15**

Lex stood there just looking stupid. "Oh..." he said after a few minutes of recovering. "Just a friend...." Lex said after a couple of more minutes.

"Is he always this slow?" Cat whispered in Amber's ear.

"Be nice. He isn't slow. He is just a jealous guy aren't you Lex?"

"Hmm, yes. But you are mine and no one else's." Lex said as he pulled Amber into a hug. He held just one of his arms around her and she had one of her arms around him.

_Two hours later_

Amber is back at the house while Lex is running some "errands". He was actually going to get the ring. He was going to propose to Amber this night. He was so excited. He was just hoping that she would say yes. He was at the jewelry and got his ring. "I will be back to pay you off." Lex said as he left. He went back to the house. He saw that Amber was helping Slade and Trudy to build the swing set in the front yard. Lex knew that he would be able to plan the evening for the two of them. He went inside the house and sat down in the kitchen. There he started to think how he would propose to Amber.

That night Lex took Amber on a picnic to a spot he had found on the island. While they sat there Lex was thinking of how to give her the ring. He decided to put it into the ice cream he had bought. He made the ice cream ready and put the ring in Amber's ice cream bowl. Lex smiled as he handed Amber the bowl. Amber ate away and when she reached the bottom she felt the ring. She spit it out and looked at it. She saw the pearl on the gold ring. She just smiled brightly as Lex took the ring and got up and stood on one knee. "Amber would you do me the honors of becoming my wife?" Lex asked looking at Amber. She was still smiling and this time she was also nodding. "Yes I want to be your wife Lex." Amber answered while Lex put the ring on her left hand. Amber kissed Lex and the two lay down on the blanket kissing, tugging at each other's clothes. One thing lead to another and a few minutes later they were having sex.

Trudy was getting anxious of where Amber and Lex where, she knew that they could take care of themselves but she was still worried. She walked up to her room and went to check on Brady who was asleep. Trudy decided that she should go to bed as well. She knew that they would be back.

Slade was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of chocolate in his hand just sipping it. He was growing tired so he headed up to his bedroom. It didn't take him long to fall asleep after he had lain down on his bed.

_The next morning_

Amber was lying with her head on Lex's chest and they were both naked. Amber woke up first and got dressed before Lex. Lex was sleeping heavily and snoring a bit. Amber had to poke him quite hard to get him to wake up. "Finally. Get dressed; we need to get back to our house." Amber said as she kept poking Lex so he would get up. He did get up after a few minutes of poking. He got dressed and gathered all the stuff they had scattered around themselves. It took them about ten minutes to get back to the house. When they got there they went up into the room that had been Amber's but now it was hers and Lex's.

Slade woke up by the sound of a door slamming shut. He looked around and saw Brady sitting on his bed. She had snuck out of hers and Trudy's room and walked to Slade's.

"Brady what are you doing in here?" Slade asked looking down at her.

"Hungry, mummy sleeping." Brady said looking up at Slade who was now sitting on the bed. He lifted Brady up, who was in a pink night gown, and walked down to the kitchen with her. "If you sit down and sit still." Slade said as he sat Brady down on a chair. He then went to the cupboard and put some cereals in a bowl, he poured some milk over it and took a spoon and gave it to Brady.

Trudy was starting to wake up. When she was awake to a hundred percent, she put on her dressing gown that was in a purple color. Under it she had her night gown which was in a darker color then the morning gown. She noticed that Brady wasn't in the room, she figured that Brady had gone and woken someone up. Trudy went down to the kitchen and found Brady eating next to Slade who was eating a toast and drinking a cup of hot chocolate.

"Morning Trudy." Slade said as Trudy smiled and sat down next to him.

"Morning mummy." Brady said with food in her mouth.

"Morning hunnie and Slade." Trudy answered smiling. Trudy was about to get up but Slade stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder as he got up himself. "I'll make you breakfast. What do you want?" he asked.

"I want a cup of hot chocolate and a toast please" Trudy said as she looked at Brady who had almost finished her breakfast.

"Sure thing." Slade answered as he prepared a cup of chocolate and toasts.

Amber was snuggling in Lex's arms and she rested her head on his chest. Amber was awake but Lex was asleep and snoring. Amber looked up at Lex and moved her hand back and forth over his chest. It didn't really make him wake up which Amber had hoped. She crawled up to his head and whispered in his ear. _"Lex"_ He just kept sleeping. Amber was disappointed and said his name over and over again but he didn't respond. As a last result she shouted his own name in his ear. It made him yank up and looked around.

"What did you do that for?"

"Because the sun is up and we should get downstairs and join the others, and show off my ring" Amber said smiling to Lex who had almost fallen to sleep again. Amber hit him on the chest with her palm and the fingers leaving a red mark of a hand on his chest. It made him wake up for real this time. "And now you have to stay awake" Amber said with an angry glare with her arms crossed over her chest.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Is it really you?"

"Yes it's me alright Trude. I haven't seen you since.... Well it was a long time ago." Maxie answered smiling. "You might remember this one as well." Maxie added and pulled Marie in to the room.

"You! SLADE!" Trudy shouted and woke Brady up. Brady just looked around and then went back to sleep. Slade came rushing from the kitchen and into the hall.

"What?"

"Go and get the others." Trudy just said and since Slade wondered what they were up to he did as he was ask.

"Sure, I'll be back in a few seconds." Slade said as he walked passed Trudy. He stopped and looked at Trudy. "Should I put Brady to sleep for you?"

"No there is no need. I can hold for quite some time Slade. Just go get the others." Trudy said as she looked from Slade and back to Maxie.

It took Slade about two minutes to get to Amber's room. He knocked on the door.

"Yes." Amber said as she walked over to the door and opened it.

"Trudy wants to see you. There are strangers down in the hall." Slade said and looked from the tear eyed Amber and over to Lex.

"We will be down in a minute." Amber answered and shut the door in Slade's face. He just frowned and went back down.

"They said they'd be down in a minute."

"Thank you Slade. Here take Brady for a while." Trudy said and handed Brady to Slade.

"Why are you giving her to a stranger?"

"He isn't a stranger and mind your own business." Trudy snapped as she looked up the stairs.

"Come one Lex. Trudy wanted us to come down." Amber said as she let Lex wipe her tears away. "Put on that shirt instead Lex. It's dry." Amber said and pointed to a shirt that was hanging over the end of the bed.

"Thanks Amber. Now we can go down." Lex said and took Amber's hand. The two of them walked down the stairs. When they got down they saw Slade standing holding the sleeping Brady, he also saw Trudy looking at them as they walked down the stairs. He also noticed the girl and the boy standing behind her. Amber noticed them to. She turned so fast in the stairs that Lex almost fell over but gladly enough her had a strong grip and forced Amber to stay.

"Let go Lex. I don't want to face him. I just want to go back to bed." Amber said and looked at Lex with a great pleading look on her face.

"No, you need to face it sooner or later and now he is alive. You have to tell him Amber." Lex said as he looked between her and the guy.

""Lex please, I don't want to."

"You have to." Lex said and walked down the stairs holding Amber's hand. She followed him but she focused on looking at the floor.

"Amber?!"

"But... But, they said you were dead." Amber answered to the man's voice.

"Well I'm not. I was sent to a work camp but there was a riot and most of the Technos left. I tried to find my way back to you but I found Danni instead." the guy said and points to the girl behind him.

"So are you back together with her Bray?" Amber asked as she reached backwards for Lex's hand. She found it and grabbed it. She pulled him closer to herself. She didn't want to hear Bray's answer to her question.

"Yes I am back together with her. You can't blame me. I didn't know if you were alive or not. Considering how we were when we were split up."

"I know. He died in a storm when we came here. I named him after you." Amber said and looked Bray in the eyes. "I am so sorry Bray but our son died in the storm that got me, Trudy, Brady, Slade and Lex here." Amber added. Lex squeezed her hand for reassurance. He noticed that she wanted it and needed it.

"We got a son?! And he died?"

"Yes. I'm really sorry Bray." Amber turned around. As she turned around Lex put his arms around Amber to protect her.

"I see you have found someone else." Bray answered as he saw Amber cuddle in Lex's arms, what no one except Lex noticed was that she was crying again.

"Come Amber, let's go back upstairs." Lex said and he guided Amber back up the stairs in to their room. He sat down with her on the bed. She just sat there looking at the wall with unseeing eyes. Her eyes were blank and it was like she wasn't present anymore. Lex kept his arms around her as the two of them lain down in the bed. Amber cried as she remembered the past. She didn't want to remember just this part about her past. She didn't want to remember how it felt to lose her child.

_The next morning_

Bray and Danni were still calling each other Maxie and Marie, they had been allowed to stay the night but only the night. Amber didn't know about it so when she went downstairs with Lex to eat breakfast she saw them sitting in the kitchen. The fact that they were still there made Amber turn around and she walked out of the house this time.

"Amber wait for me." Lex shouted as he had to run to keep up with her.

"Oh sorry Lex. I couldn't stay in there. They are driving me nuts."

"I know Amber but you can't just take off like that."

"Yes I can, I know this city Lex, and you don't." Amber snapped as she slowed down so he could keep up with her.

"Amber please don't be mad at me." Lex pleaded but Amber didn't really listen, she just kept on walking not paying any attention to Lex. Seeing Bray had made her really angry and she let it go out over those who came close to her. Sadly enough Lex didn't know that but he did notice it. Lex left and went back to the house. He knew that Amber could take care of herself. He had learned that when he found out that she was alive after being supposed to be dead. She had survived and she was the leader over to tribes. She will be just fine. Lex realized that, he went into the house and into the kitchen. He sat down with a glass of water in front of him.

Trudy was walking down the stairs with Brady in her arms. She put her down on the floor in the kitchen.

"Lex good, you're here. We need to keep cleaning this place up. Do you know where Amber is?"

"Yeah she is out walking. She'll be back sooner or later." Lex answered as he shot an evil glare at Bray and Danni and then left. He went outside. He sat on the steps up to the house just watching people walk by.

Amber walked around in the city aimlessly, what she didn't know so was Slade. The two of them bumped in to each other when they were at the library.

"I'm so sorry." Slade said as he helped Amber up from the ground."  
"Oh get lost." Amber snapped as she was up. She stormed off and muttered some swearwords under her breath so only she could hear them.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Amber walked around in the city for several of hours. She decided that she wouldn't go back to the house until Bray and that girl had left. Amber went to her hiding place behind the bushes. She knew that more people knew about it but she also knew that it was one of the best places to hide when you wanted to be alone.

Lex was sitting on the steps still sulking. He did see Bray walk past him with Danni but he couldn't be bothered to look at them. He did say something just the same.

"Keep away from us if you know what is good for you."

"You don't tell me what to do Lex. You never did and you never will." Bray answered as he turned around looking at Lex.

"Oh yes I do. You will keep away from Amber. She has been through enough without you showing up and making her life a living hell." Lex talked back as he got up from the steps and stared Bray in the face.

"I do as I please Lex."

"Well if you ever hut her again then you will answer to me about it. Now leave and don't come back. I might have to re-arrange your face if you come back." Lex said as he turned around and walked back in to the house. He had, had enough of Bray and he needed to help Trudy clean the house up.

Trudy was sitting in the kitchen eating. She had put Brady on the chair next to her and tried to get her to eat but Brady refused to eat. She didn't want to eat.

"Brady please sweetheart, you have to eat."

"No." Brady said and moved her head as soon as Trudy tried to feed her.

"Lex can you help me?" Trudy asked as she saw him walk past.

"I thought I would go and start cleaning the living room."

"Oh, good. Thanks Lex." Trudy said as she took a deep breath and continued to try and feed Brady who just kept moving.

"Fine I'm giving up." Trudy said and put the spoon on the table. She walked over to the sink and started to pour up water in the sink so she could clean the dishes. She knew that there was a dishwasher but she wanted to clean the plates and other dishes by hand.

While Trudy was cleaning some of the plates Brady ate her porridge with the spoon all by herself.

"Are you going to let me feed you now?" Trudy asked as she turned around. Her jaw dropped when she saw that Brady had finished her breakfast all by herself.

"Good girl. You just wanted to by yourself right?"

Brady nodded and climbed down from the chair and walked over to her mother. Trudy picked her up and cleaned her around the mouth and on her hands. Brady was after all four years old now.

"I'm sorry that I've been treating you as a baby. I forget that you are four years old sometimes. Can you forgive mommy?"

"Yes. Can I go play?" Brady asked as she walked toward the kitchen door.

"Wait for a while. I'm just going to finish here then we can play." Trudy said as she finished the dishes.

Slade was still walking around in the city muttering words under his breath. He didn't want Amber to be with Lex but he didn't want to become Lex's enemy since he knew how Lex can behave sometimes. He remembered back to Liberty.

* * *

_In the middle of the night Lex creeps past the room where Ruby sleeps. She is talking to Slade and Lex makes sure that he isn't seen or heard. He walks in to the room where Ram is. Ram is asleep so has no idea of what is coming to him. Lex grabbed one of Ram's crutches and hit Ram on the arm with it. This causes Ram to wake up._

_"Thought I'd find you here you scumbag." Lex said as he pinned the crutch against Ram's throat causing him to having trouble breathing._

_"Now then. Tell me who's behind the Zoot appearances with you, is it Slade?"_

_"Don't know what you are talking about."_

_"Do that, we can find out in another way." Lex said and pinned the crouch down harder against Ram's throat._

_"I suppose you don't know where Tai San is either. Ey."_

_"No!"_

_"Liar."_

_"Look I know nothing."_

_"I'll help you remember." Lex said and pinned the crutch down even harder._

_"Hit him." Ram said as he looked to the side._

_"You don't think I'm gonna fall for that old trick do ya?"_

_"Hit Him." Ram said once more and Lex is hit in the head by Ruby._

* * *

_"I wouldn't want to become your enemy."_ Slade thought to himself as he turned and started to walk back to the house.

Amber was still in her hide out behind the bushes. She sat with her feet over the edge of the cliff just dangling them. She was thinking of Bray and that girl he was with. She then thought of Lex and smiled. She realized that she wouldn't let Bray come between her and her new love. Well she had felt attracted to Lex since the first day they had met but she had fallen for Bray later on when he showed up. Amber thought of heading back to the house but she didn't feel like getting up so she stayed there looking at the water circling under her. She remembered when she came here as a child.

_"I used to come here with Cat. I wonder if he's around."_ Amber thought as she heard the bushes move. She got up and sat down near the bushes and looked at the place where they were moving. Out came Cat's head. He looked around and saw Amber.

"Hey Rat."

"Hey Cat. You found me. What are the odds of that?"

"Well since I know where you go to pout and sulk it's quiet easy to find you. But I didn't think you'd be here today. Why are you here?"

"Well I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing that concerns you. I know you're my best friend but this is private and nothing that you would care about." Amber said smiling.

"Oh okay. Boy trouble?"

"How can you always tell what it is?"

"Because I know you Amber."

"Well I have to head back home." Amber said and crawled in under the bushes. She hurried back to the house. When she arrived there she went inside and looked around for Lex. When she found him she jumped on him from behind. It made him fall and land flat on his stomach.

"Ouch that hurts." Lex groaned as he tried to turn around. When he managed to turn around he saw that it was Amber. It made him smile and he kissed her since he had missed her.

"Look I'm almost done with the last room now."  
"Good work Lex. Sorry that I done a walk about. I just had to be alone."

"I understand Amber. What I don't understand is why Slade did one as well."

"I don't know. I haven't seen him." Amber said as she crawled of Lex and got up from the floor.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Thanks for getting of me Amber."

"Sorry about that." Amber said laughing.

"It's fine. You are light as a feather." Lex said smiling as he picked her up and swung her around. Amber laughed even more when he did that.

"Lex put me down. I'm going to throw up soon." Amber said as she tried to control her stomach.

"Oh, sorry." Lex said as he put Amber down on the floor. As she landed with her feet on the ground she swayed since she was quiet dizzy. Lex held her in his arms so she wouldn't fall.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah. You can let go." Amber said as he let her go. She walked over to the sofa and sat down on it. Lex walked over to her and sat down next to her. He put his left arm around her.

Slade came walking in through the front door looking around.

"Guys!" he shouted. He had thought of what they could do with the back yard and what to do with the front yard.

"What?" Trudy said as she emerged from the stairs with Brady next to her.

"I think we should build a playground for Brady in the backyard, also a deck where we can sit and relax as we keep an eye on Brady. In the front yard we can put up a swing set that we can have and also some furniture so we can sit somewhere." Slade said smiling, he thought that his idea was brilliant and so did Brady because she was climbing down the stairs so she could get to him.

"Brady?!" Trudy said in a distressed voice then she spotted her half way down the stairs.

"How did you get down there?" Trudy asked as she walked after her.

"I climbed." Brady said as she continued to climb further down. As soon as she reached the floor she ran over to Slade and hugged him.

"It seems like it's settled. We are building a playground." Trudy said laughing as Brady hung on to Slade's leg while he tried to walk over to Trudy.

"Brady don't cling to Slade. It's not nice." Trudy said and picked up Brady from Slade's foot.

"No... Don't want to." Brady said as she held on to Slade's leg tighter.

"Please get her off me Trudy." Slade said and frowned as he was pulled down on to the floor.

"NOOOO!" Brady shouted and held on to Slade even harder.

"Brady he won't disappear. You can let him go." Trudy said as she squatted down next to Brady and tried to get her of Slade.

"Really?"

"Yes he won't disappear." Trudy said once again as she kept trying to get Brady off Slade. It took two more minutes until Brady did let go of him.

"Okay. Mummy I wanna play." Brady said as Trudy picked her up.

"Can it wait until we have built you a playground?"

"Yes." Brady said and nodded with her head as she said it.

Lex was still holding his arm around Amber. "I know what we can do."

"What?" Amber asked looking at Lex.

"Follow me." Lex said and pulled Amber up from the sofa and with him.

"Why?"

"I have a surprise for you."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you then it won't be a surprise anymore." Lex answered smiling slyly.

"What are you on about Lex?" Amber asked as she looked at him. He was still holding her hand and she was holding his. He was dragging her to the so-called-sulking-spot at the cliffs.

"Lex what are we doing here?"

"You'll see."

"Lex, tell me what's going on."

"No not yet. Wait here. I'll be back in a little while." Lex said and disappeared under the bushes.

"LEX!" Amber shouted as he left. She took a deep breath and sat down on the ground watching the water. She didn't like it that Lex was being so secretive. She wanted to know what he was doing. She didn't want to be there, she wanted to help Trudy and Slade with Brady's playground.

Lex had found a pearl on the beach after the storm, he still had it. He had it in his pocket. He walked to a jewelry so he could get it attached to a ring, he was planning on proposing to Amber. He was nervous with what she would say. At the jewelry he got the pearl fastened to a ring that would fit her finger. He had taken one of her old rings and he gave it to the jeweler. "This is the size of her finger. Could you please make a ring and fasten this pearl on it?"

"Yes. But it will cost around 20 coins." the shopkeeper said.

"What if I don't have that much money?"

"Then you have to earn the money if you want me to do it."

"How?"

"You need to get a job for starters. But I will let you have the pearl fixed to a ring in the size of that ring you just gave me. I will give you as long as it takes you to collect the coins with working. But not more than two years. Clear?"

"Yes. Thank you so much." Lex said and took a deep bow.

"The ring will be ready in an hour or two." the shop keeper said as he took the pearl and the old ring.

"Thank you." Lex said as he left the store. _"Now I need to talk to Amber." _Lex thought as he walked down the street. He made his way back to Amber. When he got there he was in for a surprise.

Amber was talking to Cat who had made been in the bushes when the two arrived there.

"Hey Rat."  
"Oh, it's you Cat. Why are you hanging around me?"

"Well I missed you. Is that a crime?" Cat asked grinning.

"No it's not but I'm involved with someone." Amber said and as she said it Lex showed up.

"Speak of the devil." Amber added and threw her arms around Lex smiling.

"Where did you go off to Lex?"

"I was just looking for something and I found it. But we can talk about that later. Who is he?"

"That is Cat, an old friend from before the virus Lex. In fact he was and still is my best friend." Amber said as she kissed Lex on the cheek.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Lex stood there just looking stupid. "Oh..." he said after a few minutes of recovering. "Just a friend...." Lex said after a couple of more minutes.

"Is he always this slow?" Cat whispered in Amber's ear.

"Be nice. He isn't slow. He is just a jealous guy aren't you Lex?"

"Hmm, yes. But you are mine and no one else's." Lex said as he pulled Amber into a hug. He held just one of his arms around her and she had one of her arms around him.

_Two hours later_

Amber is back at the house while Lex is running some "errands". He was actually going to get the ring. He was going to propose to Amber this night. He was so excited. He was just hoping that she would say yes. He was at the jewelry and got his ring. "I will be back to pay you off." Lex said as he left. He went back to the house. He saw that Amber was helping Slade and Trudy to build the swing set in the front yard. Lex knew that he would be able to plan the evening for the two of them. He went inside the house and sat down in the kitchen. There he started to think how he would propose to Amber.

That night Lex took Amber on a picnic to a spot he had found on the island. While they sat there Lex was thinking of how to give her the ring. He decided to put it into the ice cream he had bought. He made the ice cream ready and put the ring in Amber's ice cream bowl. Lex smiled as he handed Amber the bowl. Amber ate away and when she reached the bottom she felt the ring. She spit it out and looked at it. She saw the pearl on the gold ring. She just smiled brightly as Lex took the ring and got up and stood on one knee. "Amber would you do me the honors of becoming my wife?" Lex asked looking at Amber. She was still smiling and this time she was also nodding. "Yes I want to be your wife Lex." Amber answered while Lex put the ring on her left hand. Amber kissed Lex and the two lay down on the blanket kissing, tugging at each other's clothes. One thing lead to another and a few minutes later they were having sex.

Trudy was getting anxious of where Amber and Lex where, she knew that they could take care of themselves but she was still worried. She walked up to her room and went to check on Brady who was asleep. Trudy decided that she should go to bed as well. She knew that they would be back.

Slade was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of chocolate in his hand just sipping it. He was growing tired so he headed up to his bedroom. It didn't take him long to fall asleep after he had lain down on his bed.

_The next morning_

Amber was lying with her head on Lex's chest and they were both naked. Amber woke up first and got dressed before Lex. Lex was sleeping heavily and snoring a bit. Amber had to poke him quite hard to get him to wake up. "Finally. Get dressed; we need to get back to our house." Amber said as she kept poking Lex so he would get up. He did get up after a few minutes of poking. He got dressed and gathered all the stuff they had scattered around themselves. It took them about ten minutes to get back to the house. When they got there they went up into the room that had been Amber's but now it was hers and Lex's.

Slade woke up by the sound of a door slamming shut. He looked around and saw Brady sitting on his bed. She had snuck out of hers and Trudy's room and walked to Slade's.

"Brady what are you doing in here?" Slade asked looking down at her.

"Hungry, mummy sleeping." Brady said looking up at Slade who was now sitting on the bed. He lifted Brady up, who was in a pink night gown, and walked down to the kitchen with her. "If you sit down and sit still." Slade said as he sat Brady down on a chair. He then went to the cupboard and put some cereals in a bowl, he poured some milk over it and took a spoon and gave it to Brady.

Trudy was starting to wake up. When she was awake to a hundred percent, she put on her dressing gown that was in a purple color. Under it she had her night gown which was in a darker color then the morning gown. She noticed that Brady wasn't in the room, she figured that Brady had gone and woken someone up. Trudy went down to the kitchen and found Brady eating next to Slade who was eating a toast and drinking a cup of hot chocolate.

"Morning Trudy." Slade said as Trudy smiled and sat down next to him.

"Morning mummy." Brady said with food in her mouth.

"Morning hunnie and Slade." Trudy answered smiling. Trudy was about to get up but Slade stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder as he got up himself. "I'll make you breakfast. What do you want?" he asked.

"I want a cup of hot chocolate and a toast please" Trudy said as she looked at Brady who had almost finished her breakfast.

"Sure thing." Slade answered as he prepared a cup of chocolate and toasts.

Amber was snuggling in Lex's arms and she rested her head on his chest. Amber was awake but Lex was asleep and snoring. Amber looked up at Lex and moved her hand back and forth over his chest. It didn't really make him wake up which Amber had hoped. She crawled up to his head and whispered in his ear. _"Lex"_ He just kept sleeping. Amber was disappointed and said his name over and over again but he didn't respond. As a last result she shouted his own name in his ear. It made him yank up and looked around.

"What did you do that for?"

"Because the sun is up and we should get downstairs and join the others, and show off my ring" Amber said smiling to Lex who had almost fallen to sleep again. Amber hit him on the chest with her palm and the fingers leaving a red mark of a hand on his chest. It made him wake up for real this time. "And now you have to stay awake" Amber said with an angry glare with her arms crossed over her chest.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"I promise I won't fall asleep again" Lex said as he grabbed his shirt and pulled it on. The two of them were fully dressed when they went downstairs. Amber was going out to look for work and so was Lex.

"Where are you two going?" Trudy asked as she saw them head through the hallway towards the door from the kitchen.

"We are going to find jobs Trudy." Amber answered since Lex just kept walking. Amber rolled her eyes at him as she kept walking. She pulled on her brown patched boots and her beige brown coat. Lex on the other hand was tying his black sneakers. He pulled on the same black coat he had had since they left the other city behind with their whole tribe on a small boat. Amber walked to Alex's house to see if she knew a job that she would fit for.

"Alex" Amber said smiling to her friend.

"Hey Amber, so what did you want?"

"Well I was wondering if you knew about a job I would be good at."

"Well do you like children?"

"Yes, I love them."

"Good, we have a shortage of kindergarten teachers. We need two more and the quote is filled." Alex said smiling to Amber.

"I'll see if Trudy wants to be one as well, but I only think she will be one if Brady is nearby." Amber said frowning.

"Well, the place where we need kindergarten teachers is at a kindergarten with two groups, so Brady could be put in the one where there aren't any teachers needed and you will be in the other one. How does that sound?"

"That sounds amazing. I'll talk to Trudy. If she says yes when do we start?"

"As soon as possible. So come back when Trudy says yes or no." Alex said and embraced Amber in a hug before she left.

Lex was walking around in the city wondering what he could work with. He couldn't really read so that would be a downside. He walked until he found a work station where they seemed to have trouble with fixing a car. Lex went up there and looked down under the hood of the car.

"Look this is the fault." Lex said and unscrewed a lid that had been screwed on to hard. "There now you shouldn't have any more trouble with it." Lex added when he had fixed it.

"Thanks, what's your name?"

"My name is Lex, and I need a job, got one open?"

"Yeah, I'd really need someone with your skills. I got this job because both of my parents were working here." A girl in her teens said.

"Oh really, and you don't know the first thing about cars?"

"Well yes I do but not that much as to how tight or lose some things should be."

"Well if I'm to start working here then I need to know your name." Lex said smiling. "I'm Lex." He added as he tried to wipe his hands clean on a rag.

"I'm Alyson." the girl said, as she brushed a streak of blond hair that had become greasy from all the motor oil. Her eyes were clear blue and shaped as almonds, they were also fixed upon Lex's face.

Amber had reached the house and was looking for Trudy. She was out back helping Slade build the playground for Brady.

"Ah there you are Trudy."

"What?" Trudy said and whirled around so her purple now almost brown hair went all over her face.

"I've fixed a job for us, and Brady will only be in the room next to us." Amber said looking at Trudy who looked like a question mark.

"We will be kindergarten teachers and Brady will be in the group next to ours. It's in the same building." Amber said smiling as Trudy's face looked more relaxed and happy.

Slade muttered something under his breath as he kept working with the play ground.

_A week later_

Amber and Trudy are really happy at the kindergarten with all the kids surrounding them and Brady is learning how to talk even better. Brady is growing up.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Slade had been gone for a week before anyone at the house noticed it. He had got so depressed by the fact that Lex had something he wanted more than life itself. He was hiding out at a farm that was isolated from the city and there were no one there to say that he wasn't allowed in. It was an old abandoned farm.

"Lex?" Amber asked as she came home from the kindergarten with Trudy and Brady.

"In here" Lex howled from the upstairs. He was in one of the many rooms. He was making a nursery for Brady. He thought that Trudy might want to sleep in her own room.

"You got off early" Amber said as she reached the room. She stopped in the doorway and her mouth fell open.

"Do you think Brady will like it?"

"Yes. Trudy could you come up here with Brady?"

"Coming" Trudy answered as she took Brady's hand and they started walk up the stairs. Brady was curious to what was happening so she was tugging Trudy's arm as she hurried up the stairs. When Trudy and Brady entered the room Brady just lit up as a sun. She was smiling brightly and started to rummage around the room and spread the toys everywhere and then she went over to her bed and started to jump in it.

"No jumping in the bed Brady" Trudy said as she went over to the bed and caught Brady as she was jumping.

"But I want to" Brady complained and started to look like she had been seriously hurt.

"That won't work Brady, you aren't allowed to jump in the bed" Trudy said with a stern voice. She looked around the room, it had pink walls with bunnies and unicorns on it. There were also a closet, Trudy put Brady down on the floor as she walked over to the closet.

"Look Brady, all of this is yours" Trudy said as she opened the closet and showed Brady the clothes. There were only a few pair of shirts and pants and two or three dresses since they didn't have enough money to buy more things just yet. The fact that Lex had managed to pull this together was amazing to Trudy and Amber since they knew that Lex wasn't really a father type guy.

"Thank you Lexy" Brady said as she started to play with her toys again. She didn't really care for the others anymore not when she had toys to play with.

"Thanks Lex, now I can finally sleep alone" Trudy said smiling to him as she sat down on the floor by the door just watching Brady play. Lex smiled as an answer and then pulled Amber with him out of Brady's room.

"So… That was nice of you" Amber said and planted a kiss on Lex's cheek.

"Yeah, I thought she might appreciate it."

"You were right" Amber said smiling as she put her arms around Lex. "It's your turn to make dinner tonight Lex"

"No way, that's women's work"

"LEX!" Amber exclaimed and hit him lightly on the arm.

"What? It is"

"Lex you have to help if you want to eat and sleep" Amber said as she looked Lex straight in his eyes.

"Well I'm not going to make dinner"

"Fine, then you're not getting anything from me in a while" Amber said as she let go of Lex and made her way down to the kitchen. Amber went into the kitchen and over to the fridge and started to take out things so that she could make macaronis and cheese.

Lex was still upstairs and he growled as he walked after Amber.

"What do you mean by I'm not getting anything?"

"Why don't you try and figure it out and leave me alone" Amber snapped as she threw some eggshells in the bin.

"What is wrong with you?" Lex asked but Amber didn't answer, she just pretended that she couldn't hear him.

"ARGH!" Lex made some weird noises and grunted as he left the kitchen swearing under his breath. He was hoping that Trudy and Brady couldn't hear what he was saying, he didn't want to teach Brady any swearwords. Lex left the house and walked down to his workplace. He spotted the car he was supposed to be fixing and went over to it and started to work on it again. He was wishing that there was someone he could punch though. He really felt like he had to get the anger and frustration out somehow and working on the car helped quite a lot.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Amber finished with the dinner and set the table. She then called out in the house that the dinner was ready and Trudy came down with Brady. Brady and Trudy sat down at the table at the same time as Amber put the saucepan with the food in on the table. "Please help yourselves" Amber said as she put some of the macaronis and cheese on her plate. She ate the food slowly. She wasn't hungry or in the mood to talk so she sat there quiet and poked around in her food while Brady ate her dinner properly.

"What's wrong with you Amber?" Trudy asked concerned about her friends well being.

"Nothing, I'm just not that hungry" Amber said and shoved the plate away and headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She entered her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Lex stayed down in the garage for around three hours before he headed back to their house. When he got there Trudy had just put Brady to sleep and she was also getting ready for bed. Amber on the other hand was sitting in her nightgown out in the garden watching the stars. She knew that she would have to talk to Lex but she didn't feel like it at the moment so she refused to speak when Lex started to talk to her.

"Amber I am sorry for how I acted earlier" Lex tried as he stood next to Amber who was still ignoring him.

"Amber what is wrong?" Lex asked this time and she still didn't answer him. Lex decided to leave her alone and went up to their room and changed into his pajama and went to bed.

Amber didn't go up to their room until much later when she could be sure that Lex was asleep. She didn't want to talk to him at this point.

_A few days later_

Amber got over Lex's tantrum after two days and she was now starting to plan her wedding. She was going to have Brady as the ring carrier and as the flower girl. "Trudy can you help me?" Amber asked as she entered the living room.

"What with?" Trudy answered. It was Saturday and the girls had the day off and spent the time with Brady who really didn't want to be spooked out with the dress that Amber wanted her to wear.

"I need help with getting Brady into her dress. I need to see how it fits"

"I don't think I will manage it better if you can't manage it" Trudy answered smiling as she saw Brady coming running into the living room in her briefs only.

"Brady, get back into the room, I need to see if the dress fits" Amber pleaded as she got down to Brady's level.

Brady shook her head and ran away from Amber. Amber sighed heavily as she chased after her. Trudy just laughed as she watched the two. She knew that Brady wouldn't give up in a long time, she was just as stubborn as Trudy.

Amber managed to catch up with Brady when she had reached the staircase. "No, not that way. Now you are going to be nice and try the dress on, if you like I might even let you choose what kind of dress you want if you this one doesn't fit" Amber said as a try to negotiate with the four year old.

"Okay" Brady answered and followed Amber and tried the dress that was to tiny for her.

"Can I have a pink one, with a bow in the back?" Brady asked. She had been put in a too small bright green dress that looked a bit like someone's vomit.

"Yes. We will go to the store and pick something out for you" Amber said and sighed as she got Brady out of the dress and got her into her own clothes. The dress that Amber had tried on Brady was her old dress she had worn when her parents had gotten married.

"Do you want to go today or tomorrow Brady?" Amber asked as she looked around and wondered where Brady had gone of to. Brady had snuck out of the room when Amber had her back turned to her and she had gone up the stairs and into her own room and was playing. Amber just sighed as she entered the living room and sat down in the sofa holding her mouth. She was feeling a bit queasy from the detergents that Trudy was cleaning the windows with.

"Your daughter is driving me insane sometimes" Amber said sighing as she watched Trudy cleaning Brady's jam fingerprints of the window.

"Yes I know, she drives me crazy to. Now you know what I deal with most days" Trudy answered smiling as she finished cleaning.

"What's wrong Amber? You look pale."

"Nothing, I'm just a bit nauseous" Amber said and tried to smile but gave up quite fast since she knew there was no way to fool Trudy.

Lex came bursting through the front door smiling. He was carrying a clothes bag, but it was black so what was in it wasn't visible.

"What you got there?" Amber asked as she saw him.

"Nothing much" Lex answered and disappeared up the stairs. Amber just sighed and let it go. She knew that he would tell her soon enough.

Amber left the living room and headed out into the backyard and sat down on a swing that hung down from a tree. She was thinking of where Slade could be, she hadn't seen him for a week or so.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Lex was up in their room looking out through the window as he hung the clothes bag in the closet. He saw Amber through the window. He could see that something was bothering Amber, he wondered what it was, so he went downstairs and out in to the garden.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing at all Lex" Amber answered since she didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh really? I can tell when something is bothering you, you know that Amber," Lex said looking at Amber whom was sitting on the swing.

"Leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it," Amber said as she closed her eyes and ignored the fact that Lex was there.

"Please don't be like that", Lex said pleadingly as he stood in front of the swing Amber was sat upon.

"Be like what?" Amber asked skeptical.

"Please don't be mad at me", Lex pleaded as he stopped the swing and embraced Amber.

"I'm not mad at you", Amber mumbled into Lex's shoulder.

"Then who are you mad at?" Lex asked as he leaned back so he could see her face.

"No one" Amber answered smiling.

"But" Lex started saying but was rudely interrupted by Amber who kissed him.

_The Wedding day_

Amber was standing in her bedroom in a robe watching the yard where Trudy had set up the things for the wedding the day before, all the chairs and such. They had invited the whole town to come and watch the wedding. Trudy was running around fixing some last minute things in her sweats. Amber pulled the curtains shut to make sure Lex wouldn't see her. She made her way over to the mirror and started to braid her hair. One on each side to hold up the rest of the hair. When she was done with it she put on some make up. Then she had to wait for Trudy to come and help her get into the dress.

"The Guests are arriving and Lex is showing them to the back, so now let's get you ready" Trudy said as she entered the room. Amber just smiled at her best friend and maid of honor. As the two friends helped each other get ready for the wedding. It didn't take long for the two girls to get ready. They went down the stairs and to the double doors that led out to the garden which were covered up with curtains to hide Amber. Brady was standing there waiting for them in her little dress. She pushed the door open and walked out with Trudy after her, and then Amber. Lex turned around and faced the isle when he heard the doors open. He watched as Brady and Trudy walked closer to him and he had a goofy smile on his face when he saw Amber step out onto the steps and walk down the aisle. Amber also had a big and goofy smile on her face, she was blissful.

Lex took Amber's hands in his when she reached him. They were both smiling and the priest motioned for the guests to sit down.

"We have gathered here today, to join these two in holy matrimony." The priest said as a loud bang was heard. The guests looked around alarmed, but the culprit who had made the sound was nowhere to be seen. The priest continued with the service when he was sure the sound was only a onetime thing.

"If anyone has any objections speak now or forever hold your breath." The priest said as they continued with the ceremony.

"Amber and Lex has decided to write their own woes." The priest said and motioned for Lex to start.

"Amber, I have loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you in that playground all those years ago. I want to live with you for the rest of my life and I wove you my undying love." Lex said as he held Amber's left hand in his and put the ring on her finger as he spoke. Amber was smiling and tears were rolling down her cheeks. Amber took Lex's left hand in her hands and started speaking.

"I have always loved you too Lex, and with this ring, I wove you my life and love for the rest of the eternity." Amber said this as she slipped Lex's ring on to his finger.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." The priest said and Amber and Lex did as he said and made out for a good whole minute.

"The party is held in the house." Amber and Lex said at the same time and burst out laughing.

The whole garden emptied and the people entered the house and the living room to get refreshments and then headed back out again. There was a big party tent set up outside so that everyone would fit in. Brady was mostly just running around and playing with other children while Lex and Amber were sitting on the same chair, Amber in Lex's lap, and feeding each other and making out some more.

Slade was looking up at the house he had lived in with the others, he could hear the music playing. He wasn't alone. He had a blond male with him that was slightly burlier than Slade himself. He entered the house and made his way to the back. Where he saw Lex and Amber making out.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Slade hollered as he glared at the pair, his companion flinched by the sound and a vague spark of recognition sparked in the blond man's eyes. He thought he recognized the two whom were locking lips. He also thought he recognized one of the children running around, and a brunette whom was wearing what looked like a bridesmaid dress.

"Ryan?" both Amber and Lex said as they looked over at the person who was shouting, they knew the shout came from Slade, and ignored him.

"Lex?" Ryan said surprised that he was right, he did know them. It was his best friend and his former tribe members. Only four of them, but still he was happy.

"Yeah it's me alright mate." Lex said as he headed over to Ryan, he had carried Amber with him. "And this is my wife Amber." Lex said smiling brightly at his best mate. Slade was furious. He saw Brady and took the opportunity to kidnap the child. No one noticed that Slade left with Brady, and Brady didn't mind since she knew Slade was a friend.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"Where is mommy?" Brady asked as Slade put her down on the sofa in his house. He had found an abandoned house not far from where Amber and the rest were living. He had been cleaning the house when he had found the article in the newspaper about the wedding. He had been too late. Slade had hoped to be able to stop the wedding, but since he had been too late, he snatched Brady instead.

_Two hours later_

"Brady?" Trudy called out as the guests were starting to leave. Trudy wanted to know where her daughter was when the guests were leaving. When Brady didn't answer Trudy started to panic.

"BRADY!" she hollered as she walked into the house. Brady still didn't answer.

"Am, have you seen Brady?" Trudy asked her best friend who was saying goodbye to the guests.

"No, not since earlier." Amber said and went back to Lex and continued to say goodbye to the guests. When they were all gone Amber looked for Trudy and found her sitting on the porch crying.

"What's wrong chicken?" Amber asked as she sat down next to Trudy and put her arm around her. Lex was playing with one of their wedding presents. A car.

"Brady. I can't find her." Trudy said distraught through her sobbing.

"It's okay Trudy. When Lex gets back we'll look for her, and you will stay here in case she comes back. You never know, she might've just wandered off." Amber said hugging her friend close to her.

_At Slade's house_

Brady was lying on the sofa sleeping, it was late in the evening and she had fallen asleep. Slade was writing a letter in the kitchen. It didn't take him long to finish it. When he had, he went into the living room and checked on Brady. When he saw that she was asleep he brought her to his room and put her on the bed and covered her with the cover. He went back out into the living room and settled down on the sofa with a book reading.

_Half an hour later_

Lex and Amber were out searching for Brady. They had split up to cover more ground. They were calling out her name, but they didn't get any respond. They kept at it for almost two hours before they went back home again.

"I'm sorry Trudy. We didn't find her." Amber said to her best friend whom was still sitting on the porch staring out at the street.

_The Next Day_

Amber got up and rushed into the bathroom. She was puking her guts out. Lex was sound asleep and snoring so he didn't notice anything, but Trudy whom was still awake heard. She knocked on the bathroom door.

"Occupied." Amber answered as she turned the water on. She was rinsing out her mouth.

"I know that. I just wondered if you are alright." Trudy said sniffling. She had been crying during the whole night.

"Aww, Trudy. Don't worry about me." Amber said as she unlocked the door, opened it and embraced Trudy in a hug.

"I can't help it." Trudy said as she started crying again.

"It's okay Trudy, we will find Brady." Amber said holding Trudy even closer.

"It's just, this is the third time. I am just so worried. I wish I didn't have to worry about her. But I still do. Especially now." Trudy stuttered out between sobs.

"I know. But we will find her." Amber said as she walked Trudy into her bedroom and sat her down on the bed. "Try and get some sleep." Amber said as she left the room. She headed back to hers and Lex's room. Lex was still snoring, he was dead to the world. Amber rolled her eyes as she got dressed. She was planning on heading down and talking to Alex. When Amber reached the door she found a letter. It had been stuffed in under the door. Amber picked it up and opened it. It had been addressed to Trudy, but Amber knew that handwriting, it was from Slade. She read through it, and as she did she grew more and more angry. Amber threw the letter onto the bench next to the door. She grabbed her jacket, the same one she had had since she left the Gaians to go back to the mall to fend off the Technos.

Since Amber was fueled by her anger it didn't take her long to reach Alex's house. She banged on the door waiting for Alex to open.

Meanwhile Slade was trying to keep Brady calm. But it didn't work. She wanted to go to her kindergarten but Slade said no, since he knew that if he brought her there he would be asked a million and two questions, which he didn't want to answer.

"I WANT TO GO!" Brady screeched as Slade was trying to keep her indoors. It didn't work to well. Brady was tall enough to reach the door handles, and she had learned how to unlock a door to. Brady took off out onto the street. She was smart enough to stay on the side walk.

Lex was out driving around in his car. He had woken up and finding that Amber wasn't in the bed, so he had gone out to find her, but only after he had checked in on Trudy whom had fallen asleep. He saw Brady on the street.

"Brady?" Lex said as he got out of the car.

"LEX!" Brady shouted as she ran over to him. Lex picked the girl up.

"Where have you been?" Lex asked as he put her in the child car seat he and Amber had been given. He strapped Brady in as she babbled on about a house. Lex had stopped listening about the house, and missed when she said Slade's name. He drove them back home to their house. When he got there he found Trudy clutching a letter on the porch.

"What's wrong Trude?" Lex asked as he picked Brady up from the car seat.

"Slade. He has her." Was all Trudy said. She didn't even look up.

"Momma." Brady said and startled to wriggle around Lex's hold.

"Oi. I'm gonna drop you if you don't stop it." Lex said as he put Brady down on the ground. She rushed over to Trudy and flung herself into her mother's lap.

"Brady!" Trudy exclaimed and hugged her daughter to herself. Brady just giggled as she was held by her own mother.

"Where did you find her Lex?" Trudy asked and looked up at Lex.

"I found her wandering on the side walk a couple of blocks away. By the way, have you seen Amber?" Lex asked as he sat down next to Trudy and Brady.

"No, I think she might've headed over to Alex's." Trudy said and handed Lex the letter. He pretended to read it, but he just looked at it.

"Oh. Well she'll be back later then. Hey, did you say that Slade had Brady?" Lex asked dumbfounded. As usual he hadn't been paying attention.

"Yes." Trudy said as she watched Lex get back into the car.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

As Lex drove away, he found Slade quite soon. The man was sitting in the kitchen of a house with his back to the window. Lex got out of the car and pounded on the door.

"What is it Amber?" Alex asked as she opened the door with only a robe around her.

"What am I supposed to do if someone is kidnapped?" Amber asked as she stood in the door way.

"Call me, and I will get on it." Alex said as she motioned for Amber to come inside. Which was what Amber did, she entered the house. The two went into the living room and settled down on the sofa.

"What has happened Amber?" Alex asked as she studied Amber's face.

"Nothing. I need to go now." Amber said as she took off in a hurry. She didn't want to tell Alex what had happened, she wanted to deal with it herself. She knew it would be better, now that she had calmed down and thought about it.

_Nine months later_

Amber had kept it a secret from Lex that she was pregnant, actually she had kept it from everyone. It had been easy for Amber to hide it from everyone but Lex, since he was a horn dog, but she had still managed. Even when she was showing. But it did help that she had been kidnapped. Slade had kidnapped Amber when she had been on her way home from her job at the nursery, she had left early because she wasn't feeling well. She had been five months pregnant at the time and she had been having cramps. Slade had moved to a different location, after Lex had beaten him senseless. Slade brought Amber there and kept her locked in one of the bedrooms on the second floor, he had boarded up all windows on the house so he would get some privacy. It had passed four months since he had grabbed Amber, and she was showing that she pregnant, and Slade knew this. He just didn't care. He wanted her all to himself, and he had. Even though Amber refused to look at him, speak to him, she refused to do anything Slade wanted.

"Slade?" Amber asked as he came into the room where he kept her with a tray of food.

"So you are speaking to me?" Slade asked perplexed.

"My water just broke. You have to get me to the hospital." Amber said as she pointed to the puddle on the floor. At first Slade refused to bring her to the hospital, because he thought she was faking it, but it didn't take more than two hours for him to understand that it was for real. He had managed to get himself a car and helped Amber into it. When they reached the hospital Amber was sent into a delivery room.

During the five months Amber had been missing, both Trudy and Lex had searched for her, without finding any traces of her. Even the small police force had helped them, but no one had found her. Not until one of the police officers that were at the hospital with a criminal who had been stabbed. He called it in, and Trudy and Lex hurried to the hospital. They brought Brady with them.

When they got there Amber was sleeping in a recovery room with a baby wrapped in a pink blanket in a cot next to her. When Amber woke up she smiled at her family.

"You scared us pretty good." Lex slurred out. He had been coping by drinking, and he was still drunk. Amber looked over at Trudy who made Lex sit down on a chair.

"Well, I was kidnapped." Amber said as she picked up her daughter.

"Hi Keyla." She murmured to the baby.

_Approximately five years later_

Amber was sitting on the front porch waiting for her daughter Keyla to come home from pre-school so they could celebrate her fifth birthday. She knew that she would have to wait for Brady to come home from school too. Amber couldn't believe that it had almost been ten years since the virus hit for the first time. She thought back and remembered her past. How she had gone with Sasha, Bray and others before she went with her true love, it took losing her son to realize that she actually loved Lex.

Amber went inside to start baking the cake when Brady was walking in through the gate.

"Hi Aunt Amber." She said as she entered the house and went into the kitchen with Amber. She dumped her jacket and bag on the kitchen table.

"Brady, hang those in the hall." Amber said looking over at Brady who made a face, but did as she was told.

"I can help you if you want." The young girl said as she pulled up her long hair into a ponytail, she refused to let anyone cut it.

"That'd be nice." Amber said as she took out what they needed to bake a cake. Trudy had taught Amber how to bake. After the day Amber had been kidnapped, she had resigned from the nursery, and decided to become a staying home mom. So far it had worked out for her, and since Slade had been captured and sent to jail, Amber felt a lot safer.

"MOM!" Keyla hollered as she ran into the house. She had her father's black hair, and her mother's blue eyes. She stood in the doorway to the kitchen.

"oo cake." She said as she walked up to Brady and Amber. Amber had just put the cake in the oven.

"Yes, for the five year old." Amber said smiling as Lex entered the kitchen and embraced his wife in a hug.

"EWWW" both Brady and Keyla burst out when Amber and Lex started kissing. The two children took off out into the garden.

"Why do they have to be like that?" Amber asked as she pulled away from Lex whom pulled her back in again.

"I dunno." Lex replied just before he kissed Amber again.

"Amber?" Trudy asked as she poked her head through the kitchen door

"Yea." She said and pulled away from Lex and went over to her friend.

"They have let him go." Trudy said seriously and waited for Amber's reaction. Amber stayed quiet and headed up to her and Lex's room.

_Two weeks later_

It was Amber's birthday, and since she refused to leave the house, Lex and Trudy had taken the girls with them to buy what they needed to make Amber's birthday a success. On their way home in one of the crossings, a car drove against red, and it wasn't Lex. It smashed into the left side of the car, the side where Lex and Keyla were at. When the paramedics reached the site they concluded that the driver and the child behind him was both dead. The other two passengers were hanging on by a sheer thread.

Amber was called by Alex to come to the hospital and when she did, she had a complete breakdown. She just sat in the middle of the hallway crying. She refused to move one inch. She sat there on the floor for almost two days, and she refused to eat and drink too. Soon enough she was too weak to sit up, so then one of the doctors picked her up and laid her in a hospital bed, where she stayed put for almost a week.

_Another two weeks later_

When Amber had buried her husband and daughter she was sitting at their graves, Alex was there comforting her.

"Alex all I have left are my memories. What am I going to do? I don't want to live without my family." Amber said to Alex as they were sitting on a hill watching the city. Amber was crying. Alex didn't know what to say to Amber in return, so she just put her arm around her. She then tried for an answer she thought that Amber might wanted to hear.

"It will be fine, you will feel better soon enough." Alex said hoping it would give Amber some comfort. Alex knew that nothing would ever be the same, she knew that Amber had lost Lex and their daughter Keyla in a car accident. Trudy and Brady had also been in the car and the doctors weren't sure if they would survive the night. Keyla and Lex had died when the other car had hit them, they never felt any pain.

Slade had been watching the two, and when Alex left, he walked up to her.

"I am so sorry." He said and Amber flinched. She knew that it was Slade, and that he actually wasn't a bad man. He had just acted out of desperation, and Amber knew this. She wasn't afraid of him anymore.

"It's not your fault." Amber said and got up from the ground. She hugged him close to her. She needed it.

"You and the memories are all I have left of my family, it is all that is left of us MallRats." Amber said and burst into tears again.

**THE END**


End file.
